This invention relates generally to the medical field and more particularly to surgical instruments.
Surgery continues to be one of the riskiest medical procedures. Each patient's anatomy differs ever so slightly, requiring the surgeon to be ever vigilant to these differences so that the intended result is accomplished.
The positioning of nerves within the body is one example of how the internal anatomy differs from patient to patient. While these differences may be ever so slight, if the surgeon fails to properly identify a nerve and cuts it, then catastrophic affects can occur. When a nerve is severed, the range of consequences extends from lack of feeling on that part of the body to loss of muscle control.
Because of these affects, a variety of instruments have been developed to assist the surgeon in identifying the location of nerves. One such device is U.S. Pat. No. 4,962,766, entitled "Nerve Locator and Stimulator" issued to Herzon on Oct. 16, 1990. This apparatus is a hand-held device which permits the surgeon to identify the location of nerves on external to the skin. This is accomplished by providing an electrical signal into the body and then monitoring the skin for this signal.
While this approach does effectively identify the general location of the nerve at the skin level, during the surgery, the exact location must still be identified before any dissection or cutting of the tissue can be done.
It is clear that there is a significant need for an efficient and real time nerve sensing apparatus.